Among those at the Minnesota Wild-Tampa Bay Lightning game at the Xcel Energy Center the other day was Mark Howe, a 16-year NHL veteran and hockey hall of famer who is director of pro personnel for the Detroit Red Wings.

Howe, 56, son of hall of famer Gordie Howe, said he likes watching hockey at the Xcel Energy Center.

"But I'm not used to seeing it not full (of fans)," he said. "I like it better when it's full."

Entering Saturday's NHL games, no team had more victories than the first-place Wild (16), and only one, the Red Wings, had as many victories. And no team had fewer losses (7) than the Wild.

Yet attendance in St. Paul is down. The Wild are averaging 17,042 spectators (94.3 percent of capacity) through their first 15 home games. That ranks No. 17 in the NHL, just ahead of Tampa Bay, which is averaging 16,944 (85.8 percent of capacity) through 10 home games.

The Wild's 409 straight franchise sellouts at Xcel ended last season, when the team was missing the playoffs for a third straight year in "The State of Hockey."

This season, there have been just two sellouts of 18,064. Attendance for Friday night's 4-2 victory over New Jersey was 17,310. The wavering economy and a relatively expensive ticket (the Wild's average ticket is $62.63, 10th-highest in the NHL, according to Team Marketing Report) are reasons. The average NHL ticket this season is $57.10.

Wild owner Craig Leipold, who is excited about his team's start, expects attendance to improve.

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"I'm comfortable that attendance will pick up," Leipold said. "There are so many opportunities for our fans to go watch hockey, high school and college. I'm confident our attendance is going to pick up.

"The team has gotten off to a great start. It's been a lot of fun to watch how they've come together and how (first-year coach) Mike Yeo has really developed this into a great team of players. The season's only 25 percent over with, but I'd rather be in the position we are today than where we were the last couple of years.

"I'm the first one to say it's going to be a long season, but I couldn't be happier where we are right now."

So happy, Leipold said, that "I would pick Chuck Fletcher for (general) manager of the year and Mike Yeo for coach of the year."

That's not far-fetched if the Wild continue to win, and it's becoming clear that Leipold's team is for real.

"It's fun to watch this team - they find ways to win, and that's the incredible thing," Leipold said. "It's unbelievable how this team will not quit. We thought we had a good team that we believed strongly was going to be a playoff-contending team. But to be honest with you, I didn't see us being in the position that we are in this point in the year.

"It's all about where you are at the end of the year, and I think it's very fair to expect that we're still going to have some ups and downs and some bumps in the road and some injuries that may cause us to lose some games, because that's just the league that we're in. There is so much competition between all the teams in our division.

"This is not going to be smooth sailing - this is going to be a rough ride all the way to the end, and frankly, I just want to be among the top eight teams at the end of the year."

That would mean the playoffs, and maybe more. The Wild have been seeking the NHL's annual Winter Classic outdoor game.

"The (NHL) wants to see playoff teams in the Winter Classic," Leipold said. "I think we've just made another mark on our name for why we should be in it."

By the way, Howe said his famous father is 83 and has some short-term memory loss. Mark said Gordie walks three to four miles several times a week. He resides for different periods of time with his children at their homes.

Scouting at a Wild game the other day was Ken Morrow, who played for Herb Brooks' 1980 "Miracle On Ice" Olympic gold-medal team. Morrow, 55, is head of pro personnel for the New York Islanders.

Morrow walks with a discernible limp.

"Old age," he said.

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi said Saturday that he's unaware of the status of a contract extension for men's basketball coach Tubby Smith. There's a rumor that it's been put on hold.

"He's got three years left on his contract; we're in good shape," Maturi said.

It was a year ago that Bert Blyleven was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The former Twins pitcher feels it's time two more of his former Twins teammates - Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat - join him.

"I'm praying they both go in, I really am," Blyleven said from his home in Fort Myers, Fla. "Those two guys deserve to be in. Baseball's a numbers game. Kirby Puckett went in; there are other guys like Sandy Koufax in who didn't have full careers. But the times when they were healthy, they were considered some of the game's best.

"During Tony's time, he won three batting titles. You talk to other players, especially pitchers about who they would not want to face with the game on the line, and a lot of people say Tony Oliva.

"(Kaat) Kitty won 283 games, 16 Rawlings Gold Gloves, he was an incredible athlete, and he's been overlooked."

It took Blyleven 14 years on the Baseball Writers of America Hall of Fame ballot to get elected. Oliva and Kaat were not elected during their 15 years of eligibility on the writers' ballot.

But now, Oliva and Kaat are among eligible candidates for Hall of Fame election by a 16-member Golden Era committee. Twelve votes are needed for election.

Voting will be done Monday at baseball's winter meetings in Dallas. The Golden Era election will be held just once every three years.

"They've waited long enough," Blyleven said.

Oliva and Kaat traveled to Cooperstown, N.Y., for Blyleven's Hall of Fame induction last July. Blyleven and Hall of Fame colleagues will be in Cooperstown next July to welcome the new class.

If Oliva and/or Kaat are elected, Blyleven will have played with either four or five hall of famers with the Twins. The others: Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Puckett. Not a bad club.

"As long as I get to start the first game," Blyleven said of the would-be Hall of Fame lineup. "That's all I would want. Kitty can come in on relief."

Two Twin Cities admirers of Oliva have orchestrated a Hall of Fame mail campaign that one said has reached thousands who were asked to lobby voters.

South St. Paul native Phil Housley, already a member of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame but inexplicably still not in the NHL shrine in Toronto, has been elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. Induction will be May 20 in Helsinki, Finland.

"Prestigous honor; gave me goosebumps," Housley, 47, said Saturday. "I've got a lot of people to thank, but most importantly USA Hockey."

Housley, 47, is in his eighth season as coach of the Stillwater High boys hockey team. Among others elected were former NHL coach Andy Murray, who resides in Faribault, Minn., and Raimo Helminen, a former North Star (1986-87).

Members of the Twin Cities Dunkers civic group enjoyed one of their best-ever breakfast gatherings Friday at the Minneapolis Club that featured members of the University of Minnesota's 1971-72 Big Ten men's basketball championship team.

The late Bill Musselman coached the team. His widow, Julie, and their son, Max, attended the breakfast. Players included Dave Winfield, Corky Taylor, Clyde Turner, Ron Behagen and Jim Brewer.

Max Musselman was 20 months old when Bill died in May of 2000 at age 59 of liver disease complications.

Musselman's players on Friday compared his practices to a Navy SEAL training camp and reminisced about the workouts, including players having to wear weighted vests.

"He was a tough customer," Winfield said.

Winfield, who resides in Bel Air, Calif., and is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, was ecstatic about the reunion and took pictures of former teammates. Fellow hall of famer Paul Molitor, a former Gophers baseball player who didn't play basketball, also attended the breakfast.

"Haven't seen some of those guys in 40 years," Winfield, 60, said. "It was very nice."

The 1971-72 champions were honored at halftime of Saturday's Gophers victory over USC at Williams Arena.

"The University of Minnesota did a wonderful time this weekend for all the players coming back," Winfield said. "It was a fun, memorable occasion."

At the Dunkers breakfast, Winfield, who played 22 major league seasons with a career batting average of .283 and who finished with 465 home runs and 1,833 RBIs, mentioned how he had to pitch and wasn't allowed to hit his first three seasons playing for the Gophers.

"Think about it - coaches don't always know best," he said. "Growing up, I was always a shortstop and a pitcher. I got to the university and they said, 'We just want you to pitch.' The last year, we were playing well, so they said, 'OK, we'll let you hit.'

"Then I got to the pros and I asked, 'What do you want me to do?' They said, 'We want you to play every day.' "

Late Saturday, Winfield accepted an invitation from the Vikings to be their honorary captain for today's pregame coin toss against the Denver Broncos at the Metrodome.

The Vikings, remember, were one of four professional sports teams to draft Winfield out of Minnesota in 1973. The others were the San Diego Padres, the Atlanta Hawks and the (ABA) Utah Stars.

The Vikings drafted the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Winfield as a tight end.

"Fran Tarkenton would have been throwing to me," he said. "I'd have been good. I would have been the best I could be."

Winfield, obviously, has no second thoughts about choosing baseball over football, which he never played other than as a youth on St. Paul playgrounds.

The Trinity High boys varsity basketball team is mourning the loss of sophomore Johnny McClure, 15, who died while asleep on Nov. 28.

Ex-Twins: Chili Davis is the new hitting coach for the Oakland A's; Rick Sofield will be a minor league instructor for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Four-time USA Olympic women's hockey star Jenny Potter from Edina has been hired by the Minneapolis Hilton as a concierge as part of an Olympic program providing jobs for athletes so they can continue to train in their respective sports.

Larry McKenzie, who coached Minneapolis Henry to four straight state titles, releases his book, "Basketball - Much More Than Just A Game," this afternoon at J.D. Hoyt's in downtown Minneapolis.

Former DeLaSalle basketball standout Jonah Travis, a freshman at Harvard, is the third player off the bench for coach Tommy Amaker's 7-0 Crimson.

Ellsworth (Minn.) High senior Casey Schilling has committed to a basketball tender from Augustana (S.D.).

Stillwater girls golf star Hailey Boner has signed a tender with North Dakota State.

DON'T PRINT THAT

Although it hasn't been announced, the Twins have officially decided that a bronze statue of Kent Hrbek will be erected just outside of Target Field next season.

"Beyond my wildest dreams," Hrbek said. "My family for years to come when I'm long gone will be able to come to the ballpark and see this stupid-looking guy named Kent Hrbek in bronze. It's hard to envision."

Hrbek is among six former Twins - the others are Killebrew (3), Carew (29), Oliva (6), Puckett (34) Blyleven (28) - whose jersey numbers have been retired. The popular first baseman raised in Bloomington wore jersey No. 14.

Hrbek's statue is expected to be located outside of Gate 14 at Target Field. Hrbek's pub is just inside of Gate 14 at the ballpark.

On Saturday, Hrbek was soliciting suggestions from pals via Facebook for what statue pose he should have. Some were funny - and unprintable.

Based on recent play, it appears that an NFL combine scouting report that Christian Ponder, the Vikings' rookie QB, tries to pass into too many tight spots was accurate.

It appears the Twins will fly beleaguered infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka in from Japan for TwinsFest at the Metrodome next month.

After the Twins' final game this year at Target Field, Joe Nathan, who has since left for the Texas Rangers, scooped up some dirt from the pitching mound to keep as a souvenir.

"That's my dirt; I'll keep it in the house somewhere," he said.

Former Highland Park and Gophers wideout Tony Levine, 39, who is special-teams coordinator and receivers coach for the University of Houston, is on the hot list for top college assistants, cbsSports.com says.

Look for former Gophers men's basketball coach Dan Monson, who has Long Beach State off to a 4-3 start, to get mentioned for the University of Washington job after the season.

Former Twins catcher Tom Lundstedt on what Calvin Griffith told him when he asked the late team owner after his rookie season in 1976 why he couldn't have a $500 increase on his $16,000 salary, in the Chicago Tribune: "You're no damn good."